Ya, but how many of those 17,000 are flying RJs?

Good point. My initial fixed wing experience was ICAO (military) into civil and military fields. Things are done differently over there and it was a real eye opener when I started going into some places here in the U.S.

Don't worry
 

In a few more years the FAA will have done away with all the remaining "bug smashers". User fees, airport closures, 100LL gone soon too.

SkyHigh

How do you train for DCA River Visual 19, the LGA Expressway Visual 31, or the MDW 31C circle to 22L in a sim?

It can't be done. You only learn it through experience. Sims don't provide it, and the realism is lacking even with today's technology. The training environment is quite different from the real world. I know, I'm sitting seat support watching someone with less experience than me upgrading to captain. (He's senior to me.) He's been struggling.

If I ever make captain again, and I'm flying with one of these "graduates" they won't be doing much flying.

Hi!

How many are RJs?

I don't know too many pilots with 250 TT (other than Military or ab-initio) who can realistically expect to get their 1st airline job and fly a -777, A-340 or -787.

cliff
GRB

I can't confirm or deny that report about EVA air. However, I would wager that
1) they hired and trained that pilot from 0hrs- to 747 F/O

2) he/she never spent a dime of their own money on training

3) he/she worked not even one day for free trying to build time

4) he/she did not spend years of their life flying at even lower rates waiting to make it to a 747 for $50K/yr.

After flying at EVA for 3-5 yrs that pilot has much heavy experience and is marketable on the worldwide market for one of the better paying carriers or for contract work.

If what they told you is true, then that is not a great gig until you put in the context of the typical US pilot- out of pocket expenditure for training, sub-poverty level life as an instructor and then their $20K/yr job at a regional. The average US pilot will not see $50K/yr until they make Capt. at one of the better regionals.

Assume this
 

Actually this guy was about 40 years old, and came up the US way (lived in Florida) worked for Mesa prior to Omni, then left Omni for Eva based on a promise from Eva that it was such a great place to work. Now he says that he should have never left Omni.

Like I said, again; "This is what you want to compete with in the US?"

So based on this one example, is it your contention that the rest of the world can't wait to get their hands on the jobs here in the US? Bear in mind that (on average) there isn't a pilot surplus in other parts of the as there is here and that this particular guy is already an American that would be returning home.

Do you think that there will be a mass-exodus at BA, AF, LH, CX, etc. for our very lucrative and high paying jobs here? For every EVA there are many better airlines out there. I worked out of the US for a while and debated hard before returning- believe me it was a close call. I still have friends scattered around the globe and they are all treated better and paid better than I am flying similar equipment.

Did he by chance mention that he shouldn't have left Mesa?

I have heard that EVA has become a sort of bottom feeder of ex-pat jobs and that many others are heading in this direction like EK and CX... frankly.. I'd rather keep the US flying jobs for US Citizens and the others for the rest.. we alone are scheduled to double the number of jobs in the next 18 years according to this data, so why share it? We have good (if slightly week due to GW's politics) unions and they for the most part DONT!

Cheap Labor!
 

Dude, I'm talking about cabotage. The Eva's of the world can come into the USA and fly point to point with 200 hour wonder pilots (trained in the US in 3 months) and put them in hotels just sending them home for their 8 days off a month using their countries rule books for rest. Many of these Asian countries have no laws protecting them from work actions so their employees just take it especially since a 50K a year job in certain parts of Asia is a ton of money.

Why don't we just give all the jobs away in America to the lowest bidder? We need to be up in arms about this as a profession/industry because no one else will be effected like us. Most other quality jobs need a green card or citizenship to work in the US, but not flying if cabotage goes through because they aren't based here. This will be another "job Americans' aren't willing to do" someday so people can fly around for 10 bucks a crack.

I know this example is a stretch, but man we need to get the will to fight in this career again! Let's stop rolling over and stand up for ourselves! Even slavery was justified for most of mankinds legacy. The world is about cheap labor!